Annual spend on Visa debit cards across Europe has exceeded €1trillion
(€1.02 tn) for the first time. The figure represents an annual increase
of 8.8%, reports payments technology company Visa Europe, which today
announces its annual results for the year ending 30 September 2012.

Despite the challenging economic climate, total spend by Visa
cardholders grew by 8.0% to €1.3 trillion. This was underpinned by a 16%
growth in e-commerce, the fastest growing part of the Visa Europe
business. Online spending on Visa cards in Europe topped €200 billion
(€202bn) for the first time and accounts for more than 20% of Visa
Europe’s processed business. €1 in every €6.75 spent in Europe is on a
Visa card, a figure that rises to £1 in every £3 in the UK.

Growth was also strong in other core areas of the Visa Europe business,
with spending on commercial cards increasing by 17.6% and on prepaid
cards by 18.3%.

In the UK, total spend increased by 6.1% to £407bn with spend on
debit cards increasing by 7.1% to £360bn. E-commerce grew by 11.5% to
£96bn, representing almost a quarter of total spend.

As a membership organisation, Visa Europe operates a high volume, low
cost business model that provides services to its members. For the
second year running, Visa Europe revenues exceeded €1billion (€1.11bn)
and the company achieved a pre-tax surplus of €260 million that will be
reinvested into the business and to improve capital and reserves.

Visa Europe has invested over €1billion in its technology and
infrastructure over the past six years, building a robust and secure
European payments platform from which to deliver the next generation of
payment technologies. The company continues to deliver unparalleled
payments safety for consumers, merchants and retailers, with its fraud
to sales ratio at an all-time low for the second year running
(Europe-wide: 0.04%; UK 0.05%).

2013 will see the rollout of V.me by Visa, Visa’s first integrated
digital wallet, in the UK, France and Spain. In the UK, banks
representing 80% of all consumers are already committed, while by 2020,
Visa Europe believes that one-third of all European consumers will be
using the V.me wallet.

V.me by Visa allows consumers to complete online transactions with just
one click after login through the internet browser on their smart
phones, tablets, PCs or laptops, using cards from multiple providers.
V.me is exceptionally secure, shielding customers’ card details from
online merchants and supported by multiple layers of Visa security
technology. The V.me service will continue to evolve to incorporate
other Visa payment technologies, including contactless transactions at
the point of sale and person-to-person payments.

2013 will also see the continued rollout of contactless payments for
card and mobile devices. Contactless transactions in Europe quadrupled
in 2012 and Visa Europe expects to repeat this growth in 2013. Across
Europe, in 2013, there will be 40 issuers offering mobile contactless
payment services to consumers and by the end of 2013 around 80 types of
smartphone will be certified by Visa to carry out contactless payments

Peter Ayliffe, Chief Executive, Visa Europe said:

“Visa Europe has performed strongly in the past year despite tough
economic conditions, demonstrating the continued resilience of our
business.

“Debit, which accounts for almost 80% of Visa card spending in
Europe, continues to grow strongly while e-commerce has become the
fastest growing part of our business and is set to grow further as the
market continues to mature.

“We have benefited from our investment in technology and security,
which not only helped us deliver 100% processing availability and record
low levels of fraud in 2012, but also enabled us to showcase mobile
contactless payments at the London Olympics.This investment also
underpins the rollout of new payment technologies in 2013.

“As we continue to see the explosive adoption of mobile devices, our
priority in 2013 is to give consumers faster, safer mobile ways to pay.

“The past six years have been about preparing and building the
European payments infrastructure to support European commerce and the
delivery of new payment technologies. The year ahead will see us putting
mobile contactless payments into consumers’ hands, and introducing
digital wallets on a mass scale for the first time.

“In the UK, where a quarter of all Visa card spend is online,
banks representing the vast majority of UK consumers are lined up to
launch V.me in 2013, providing a faster, simpler and safer way to pay
online.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Visa Europe

Visa Europe is a payments technology business owned and operated by
member banks and other payment service providers from 36 countries
across Europe.

Visa Europe works at the forefront of technology to create the services
and infrastructure which enable millions of European consumers,
businesses and governments to make electronic payments. It is not a
credit card company, almost 80% of its business is on debit cards, and
its members are responsible for issuing cards, signing up retailers and
deciding cardholder and retailer fees.

Visa Europe operates a high volume, low cost business model that
provides services to its members. Its surplus is reinvested into the
business and used to improve capital and reserves. In the last six
years, Visa Europe has invested over €1 billion in new technology and
infrastructure.

Since 2004, Visa Europe has been independent of Visa Inc. and
incorporated in the UK, with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual
licence in Europe. Both companies work in partnership to enable global
Visa payments. As a dedicated European payment system Visa Europe is
able to respond quickly to the specific market needs of European banks
and their customers - cardholders and retailers - and to meet the
European Commission’s objective to create a true internal market for
payments.